The briefer said, “I’m showing you the proof. It’s on the screen, and these are only the penetrations we know of. If you want more proof, just look at Australia.”
“What do you mean?”
Exasperated, the briefer said, “You’re on the Asia counterproliferation subcommittee, right? Is that right? You’re not just a visitor here today?”
Chagrined, the man said, “Yes, of course. I’ve been on this committee for over two years, and you didn’t answer the question.”
The briefer pursed his lips, as if he couldn’t believe that someone that naïve was in the room. He said, “Australia is already compromised by China. If they aren’t a lost cause yet, it’s very close.”
“How?”
“To keep from dragging this out, just two data points: One, China now owns the port of Darwin, the largest port in Australia with a gateway to China. That didn’t just happen out of the blue. Two, there was a book written about the subversion of Australian politics by China, written by an Australian academic. China raised an objection, and the book wasn’t allowed to be published because of some arcane law about national security. That’s also not a coincidence. China raised an objection and the Australian government stopped publication. And why did they do that? Because of the economic threat China presents. The Australian government didn’t want to upset the apple cart for profits. It’s happening to them, and it will happen here. China wants to own the means of control, and they don’t want to shoot to do it.”
Alexander Palmer said, “What does this have to do with Taiwan and the F-35s?”
Relieved at the intrusion, the briefer flicked to the next slide and said, “Yes, sir, I was getting to that.”
On the screen was a graph of the South China Sea, with nine dots outlining the sphere of influence China was asserting, well to the south of China’s actual coastline.
He said, “China is also expanding on its own home front, claiming basically rocks in the ocean as their sovereign territory, which expands their reach. They get twelve nautical miles off their coast, like everyone else in the world. Find a rock at the thirteen-mile mark? They’ve just increased their sovereign territory by another twelve miles. They’ve taken over a bunch of islands in the Spratly chain—islands that are contested by a host of countries from Malaysia to Vietnam—and have now claimed those as their own, which will basically leave the entire South China Sea as the sovereign space of China. They call it the Nine-Dash Line.”
The academic at the front of the table snorted and said, “And why do we care?”
Exasperated, the briefer said, “We care because if the world agrees to this, we have no right of passage in the South China Sea. Jesus Christ. Can you not see this? The ring is literally designed to prevent passage for every naval vessel on the high seas in one of the most trafficked sea lanes on earth. Do I need to spell it out for you?”
The academic said nothing. The room remained silent, so the briefer continued, “Look, once they set foot on the rocks they said they’d never militarize them. Now? They have missiles on them. They’re literally bringing in sand to increase the size, building runways and infrastructure. They’re building platforms for war.”
The academic said, “Sounds like an Asian problem to me. What’s that got to do with us?”
The briefer said, “Because everything they do is targeted at us. We have the largest economy in the world. They have the second largest. And they’re dominating us. Are you guys aware that Disney released an animated movie last year called Abominable, and to get a sale in China they had a map in the movie depicting the expanse of Chinese sovereignty? The Nine-Dash Line? And when the NBA and ESPN went to China for a game they kowtowed to the same map? They’re winning because we don’t care. And we’ve done nothing to prevent it. Malaysia can’t do it. Vietnam can’t do it. And we don’t do anything.”
Calmly, juxtaposed against the earnestness of the man briefing, Palmer said, “Okay. What does this have to do with the sale of F-35s?”
The briefer took a breath and said, “Because the one thing China can’t own is the Taiwan Strait. It’s a sea lane that defeats all of their ambitions. They can take over and demand sovereignty with the rocks to the south, but if Taiwan exists, it’s all irrelevant. It defeats all of that, because Taiwan is inside the range of their ambitions. You can’t claim jurisdiction when you have an island that claims the same. China knows this. They want Taiwan. We see a lot on the news about Hong Kong, but that’s a sideshow. At the end of the day, owning Hong Kong gives them nothing other than prestige. They need to own Taiwan, and they intend to. We need to prevent it. That’s where the F-35s come in.”
He pressed a button and the slide show went to a blank screen showing the NSC logo. He said, “Questions on what I’ve just shown you? There are background papers here on the table.”
There was a brief moment of silence, then the room erupted in chatter, the members of the subcommittee all trying to compete with each other for airtime about their preferred opinion. Wolffe appreciated that they wanted to debate, but it struck him as all a waste of time. It was like watching a bunch of high schoolers at a mock UN convention. Eventually he grew bored with the discussion and rose to leave. Palmer waved at him, then met him at the door.
Wolffe said, “Not sure what this was all about. Good luck with the F-35 sale.”
Palmer said, “It’s about China. I wanted you to see the sausage making here, in this room.”
“Yeah, it’s sausage making all right. I’m not sure how I fit in, though.”
Palmer glanced back into the room, making sure nobody could hear him, then said, “Because the president is thinking about targeting you guys against China. That’s why.”
Wolffe said, “We don’t target states. That’s sacrosanct. We do substate actions only. Terrorist organizations. It’s in the charter.”
Palmer said, “The charter might be changing. It’s not like it’s written in the Constitution.”
Wolffe bristled and said, “You’re changing the very nature of why we exist, and we aren’t the tool for this. It’s like telling a car mechanic to fix a refrigerator. In the end, the fridge gets fixed, but at a hell of a lot more pain. Have you learned nothing about the last twenty years of war, throwing SOF into the breach because it was the easiest solution?”
Palmer raised his hands and said, “I’m just telling you the president’s thought process. Taiwan’s election is coming up, and we expect the PRC will try some direct action to affect the outcome. He likes you guys. He thinks you can help.”
Wolffe raised his voice. “We don’t even have a target. No mission, no intelligence, no nothing. This is completely out of the blue. I don’t need some lone wolf telling me what to do.”
Several members of the subcommittee turned their heads at his voice. Palmer waited until they turned back around to their own conversations, then said, “Are you saying I’m a lone wolf on this? Do you forget who you work for?”
“At this point, I really don’t know. Are you? You’re a little young, but I’m old enough to remember Oliver North and Iran-Contra. I’m not doing that here.”